Afton Alps Welcomes the World’s First ‘Riders Cup’

05 January 2015

Ice Cross Athletes from Around the World to Compete on Jan. 18 for
World Championship Points and the Opportunity to Advance to Red Bull Crashed Ice

WHO: Up to 128 male and 24 female ice cross downhill athletes from around the world will be competing in the Riders Cup on Jan. 17-18 at Afton Alps to earn Ice Cross Downhill World Championship points and to qualify to compete in the Red Bull Crashed Ice series, including the Jan. 24 competition in downtown St. Paul. These athletes boast a variety of different sporting backgrounds – everything from downhill skiing to mountain biking to hockey and more.

WHAT: Ice cross downhill is the fastest sport on skates, with athletes racing down an ice track featuring hairpin turns, drops and gaps at speeds of more than 40 mph. The Riders Cup evolved from these athletes building their own tracks with local ski resorts and sponsorship partners, and for the first time ever this year, will give its competitors the chance to earn points towards their world championship ranking. The Riders Cup will make ice cross downhill more accessible to interested athletes and allow competitors from more than 15 different nations to participate in races this year.

There will be four Riders Cup events, added by popular demand, across the world this year: Jan. 18 at Afton Alps in Hastings, Minn.; Jan. 31 in Kleinarl, Austria; Feb. 14 in Jyväskylä, Finland; and March 7 in Sherbrooke, Québec (Canada). Adding the four Riders Cup events to the four existing Red Bull Crashed Ice competition brings the total number of ice cross competitions in 2015 to eight.

The athletes participating in the Riders Cup events will be able to earn up to 25 percent of the points awarded at the four major Red Bull Crashed Ice competitions. This means that participation in all four of the Riders Cup events will be equivalent to participating in one Red Bull Crashed Ice race.

The Afton Alps event will take place over two days with a Riders Cup training camp and time trials occurring on Saturday, Jan. 17 and the official Riders Cup race taking place on Sunday, Jan. 18. The Riders Cup will feature 32 heats of the top 128 men and up to four heats of the top women (up to 16). Athlete registration can be found at AftonAlps.com and is available on a first-come, first-served basis until Jan. 11.

The Afton Alps Riders Cup track will be an estimated 400 meters in length with over 60 meters of vertical drop, which is comparable to the Red Bull Crashed Ice championship course in St. Paul. It will be sculpted out of snow from the ski hill, covered with natural ice and littered with a variety of obstacles. The Afton Alps course will take more than eight days to build from the ground up, with approximately 10 international Crashed Ice athletes (from more than five countries) and 30 local athletes working on-site.

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 17 – Riders Cup Training Camp and Qualifier

Practice and qualifying runs beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Sunday, Jan. 18 – Riders Cup

11 a.m. – Venue opens

11 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. – Riders Cup Elimination Round

2:30 - 4:30 p.m. – Riders Cup Finals

4:30 - 5 p.m. – Riders Cup Award Ceremony

WHERE: Afton Alps ski area, 6600 Peller Ave. S. in Hastings, Minnesota. The finish line and public viewing area will be near the base of lift #11 in the Meadows area.

ABOUT: The Riders Cup is just one example of how Afton Alps provides a variety of entertainment besides skiing and snowboarding. Afton Alps provides year-round entertainment including New Year’s Eve fireworks, a beer and wine festival in the fall, golfing and more.

Afton Alps is a subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc., the leading mountain resort operator in the U.S. For over 50 years, Afton Alps has delighted the Twin Cities’ families as one of the Midwest’s premier winter destinations. Nestled in the scenic St. Croix River Valley just outside Minneapolis and St. Paul, this sprawling resort poured $10 million last season into re-imagining the guest experience with renovated base area facilities, a powerful state-of-the-art snowmaking system and a new cutting edge terrain park. With nearly 300 skiable acres, 50 trails, 18 lifts and four terrain parks, there is enough terrain to challenge experts to beginners, day or night. Accessible, affordable and fun, this big-time resort with a small-town feel has converted thousands of first-timers into lifelong skiers and riders, and with the opportunity to take that passion to Vail Resorts’ iconic western mountains; Afton Alps is truly the place where Epic begins. For more information, visit AftonAlps.com.

CONTACT: A limited number of media credentials are available for this event. Your coverage is most welcome. Please contact Molly Steinke at molly@nemerfieger.com or 612-309-1677, or Lauren Cook at lcook@nemerfieger.com or 612-280-2390 for details and to confirm your attendance.

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About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading mountain resort operator in the United States. The Company's subsidiaries operate the mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Park City and Canyons in Utah; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Company's subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages casually elegant properties. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.

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